Thursday, August 27, 2009

DIY Dry Erase Calendar

Ever since I saw this idea on Nannygoat's blog, I KNEW it was meant for me!

Last Saturday, I replaced my afternoon nap with an iced vanilla coffee and my most recent crafty mama project (even though it technically didn't come from the Crafty Mama book). It was a LOT easier than I had expected!

Step 1: You need a picture frame with glass large enough for the size of calendar you are wanting to make. Luckily, I was given a gigantic photo of Mike and myself as a shower gift... Three years later, we are tired of looking at our happy, pre-married, pre-kids selves (JUST KIDDING!) and so I decided to turn this 20x24 inch picture frame into a functional calendar!

Take the back off and remove the cardboard that supports the photo.
Step 2: Cover the piece of cardboard with a light colored piece of fabric. Make sure you iron the fabric first so your calendar is free of wrinkles! I really liked the fabric on Nannygoat's so I found one in a similar color. It's very neutral and has a light pattern... Makes the calendar a little more fun than your typical dry-erase calendar.

Step 3: Fold the edges of fabric around to the back of the cardboard and tape in place. Make sure you pull tight enough so the fabric is smooth, but not too tight to make the pattern on the fabric look funny. You are done with this piece for a while!

Step 4: Make a sketch on a piece of paper so you can figure out how big you want to make your calendar. You are drawing it on the glass with a permanent marker, so you want to make sure you get it right the first time!

I laid a white garbage bag on the table and put the glass on top of that so I could see my black lines better.

Measure out the border of the calendar and draw it on the INSIDE of the picture frame glass with a permanent magic marker. PLEASE use a straight edge to draw your lines. Don't forget to make the top margin a little bigger so you can write in the name of the month! Don't worry, if you are like me and completely stressed out that you will mess up with a permanent marker, nail polish remover with a Q-tip helps correct little mistakes!

Step 5: Draw in your calendar grid. Don't forget to make a smaller row at the top for the days of the week! My squares turned out to be 3"x3".

Step 6: Wait a little while for the marker to dry. Even if you are using a quick dry marker, wait a little while since you are writing on a non-porous surface.

Flip the glass over so you are looking at the FRONT (the opposite side that you just drew your grid on). With a DRY-ERASE marker, write in the days of the week in the top row. Then, flip the glass over again (you are back to the side you drew on) and with permanent marker, trace the days of the week. Do it this way so they will look like your normal handwriting (not like you tried to write backwards) and be permanent.

Step 7: Take a piece of scrap cardboard and cut a square out of the corner in the size you want your date boxes to be. I made mine .75" squares. Line up a straight side of the cardboard with your calendar grid and trace in the date boxes. Careful not to smear your marker (and have the nail polish remover handy in case you do)!

Calendar part done!

Step 8: After letting the marker dry completely, place the fabric-covered cardboard back in the frame and put the frame back together!

Now you have a dry-erase calendar!

But wait! There's more! I added an extra step...

Step 9: I just so happened to have these cute little decorated gator clips. You could easily make them though. They are just a simple gator clip attached to a piece of wire with a cute flower glued to the front. I attached these to the bottom of the back of the frame with upholstery tacks (a little stronger than regular tacks).

There you have it! I put ours in the hallway, right outside of the kitchen because 1. our kitchen has no wall space big enough for it, and 2. we can see it from the kitchen and in passing when walking down the hallway! Each of us have our own little clip at the bottom for notes. I LOVE it!

great tutorial! I am thinking that I could make one now. Pretty sure my lines will not be as straight as yours, but that will give me soemthing to work up too-right? Thanks for the idea. I have seen them around-just never knew how to make them.

I have been looking for this! I am not kidding. My husband and I bought a calendar like this before we got married. My siblings all love it, but none of them have the money to spend on buying one at the store. I have been trying to figure out how to make one for almost a year now.

And it's so simple! How did I not think of it? Well, thank you for being creative and solving that problem. I will be making this for everyone I know this Christmas.

Thanks for linking up to A Little Craft Therapy with Life in the Pitts!

I've been looking for a project like this. It's perfect timing. How long have you been using it? I'm worried that the permanent marker does not hold up well with the erasing of the dry erase markings. Have you found it to be durable?~Dana

Great idea! I have the perfect frame for this. Also, dry erase marker erases permanent marker. You just scrible the dry over the perm and immediately wipe it off. Works like a charm...I've even gotten it off of cherry wood!

When I saw this on WFMW I had to come over and see. Yup. Simple and AWESOME!! I will definitely be doing this. No, really. I will just have to remember to bookmark and link you. Doing that right... DONE.

I am having the BIGGEST sense of DUH! Why didn't I ever think of this? This is just such a wonderful idea. I need to keep a current calendar, but frankly, none of them ever have a good look to them. This would be perfect, and I am going to copy it.